The present disclosure relates to a system for controlling the operation of an electrical appliance, such as a VCR or a TiVo, from a remote location. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a system for controlling the operation of an electrical appliance from a remote location using a cellular device, such as a cellular telephone or a cellular-enabled PDA.
Typically, a home has many electrical appliances—such as, VCR, DVD or any type of video or audio recording devices, TV receiver, air conditioner, furnace, thermostat, indoor and outdoor lights, and the like. It is desirable to control the operation of such appliances from a remote location. For example, it may be desirable to program a VCR to record a specified program, or to program an air conditioner or a furnace to keep the temperature in a home within a certain range.